Closure for tanning drums



Dec. 21, 1954 c H, TQPLEY CLOSURE FOR TANNING DRUMS Filed Sept. 11, 1950 FIG. 4

FIG. 4

FIG; 3

c y B his Attorney United St CLOSURE FORE TANNING DRUMS Application September-11, 1950; Serial'No. 184,258 1 Claim. (Cl. 21778) This invention relates to tanning drums and more particularly to closures therefor.

In tanning skins, it is the practice to tumble the skins with tanning liquors in large drums or tumblers. Such drums are generally made of wood, because of its relative inertness to the tanning liquors, and are rotated about axes concentric with their ends. Made of wood, the sides of these drums are bulged in the usual manner and are provided with openings of suitable size, through which the tanning liquors and skins are introduced. For sealing such openings prior to tumbling, resort has heretofore been had to wooden closure members or so-called heads, which are first inserted through the opening and then drawn into sealing engagement with an inner face of the drum against a separate cross-bar spanning the outer end of the opening by a wing nut or the like carried by the head. Such heads are extremely diflicult for one individual to handle, due to their size and mode of application, an operator being required to hold the head in place with one hand while both placing the cross-bar and drawing the head closed with the other.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved closure for tanning drums of such construction that the closure member can readily be handled by one individual.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved closure for tanning drums in which the sealing device is carried by the closure member.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved closure for tanning drums utilizing an inflatable member carried by the closure member for both holding the closure member in place and sealing the opening in the drum.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved closure for tanning drums employing as its sealing means a treaded inflatable member and having a seat therefor whereby the inflatable member, through gripping by its threaded surface, locks the closure member in place and, through engagement of its side with a seat, effectively seals the opening in the drum.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in the detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a front elevational view of a tanning drum incorporating a preferred embodiment of the closure of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along the lines 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the drum, taken along the same section as Figure 2, but on a reduced scale, the closure member being shown removed and in side elevation;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 1, on the same scale as Figure 3 and with the parts shown in the same manner; and

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic sectional view of the closure frame and inflatable member, showing the relative positions of the inflatable member in collapsed and inflated positions.

Referring now in detail to the drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improved closure of the present invention, designated generally as 1, has been illustrated applied to the convex or bowed side or side wall 2 of the usual wooden tanning drum tes Patent 0 2,697,534 Patented Dec 21, 1954 or tumbler? Asiscustomary, the drum is-mounted'fo'r' rotation about an axisconcentric with and normal to its ends through stub axles 4, which are journaled in*suit-' able supports- 5,- the: drum means (not shown).

The closure 1-will normally interrupt the side wall 2' of the drum substantially midway between the ends of the latter and nular access openingor port 6;

of copper-free aluminium, bronze, neoprene-coated metal or other material having suflicient strength and inertness to the tanning liquors. The frame conforms to the contour of the wall 2 of the drum and is bolted or otherwise secured thereto. It is comprised of an inturned or inwardly directed annular flange or lip 8, extending into and restricting the outer end of the opening 6. This flange has an arcuately concave inner face or wall 9 which forms a seat for sealing the opening in the manner hereinafter to be described. Inwardly of the seat 9, the flange merges into a side wall 10 of the frame 7, which wall may be concave to provide with the flange 8 an annular groove facing towards the center of the opening 6, but is preferably straight-sided and disposed vertically of or normal to the opening.

For closing the opening 6, there is provided a closure member or cover 11, usually termed a head, which has the same oval shape as the opening, but is of somewhat less radial dimension than the frame 7. This closure member also may be made of copper-free aluminum, bronze or neoprene-coated metal and, inwardly of its outer wall 12, is preferably of ribbed construction for minimum weight. The outer wall follows the contour of the side wall 2 of the drum and is provided with a handle 13 for handling purposes. The closure member, inwardly of its outer wall 12, has an arcuately concave rim 14 providing a peripheral groove 15, in which is seated an inflatable ring, tube or member 16 adapted to be inflated through an outwardly projecting valve 17. This inflatable member, for durability, is preferably of the corded construction used in tires and has a treaded peripheral surface 18 which, when the member is fully inflated, is of slightly greater diameter than the side wall 10 of the frame 7.

Before the closure memberll is applied, the inflatable member 16 is partly or fully deflated. The closure member is then inserted through the opening 6 with its longer dimension turned crosswise to that of the opening to facilitate entrance of the inflatable member. After it has been inserted, the closure member is turned until its dimensions coincide with the corresponding dimensions of the opening, whereupon the member is drawn or pulled outwardly into the opening until the outer edge 19 of its treaded surface 18 is stopped by the inturned flange 8 of the frame 7, the contour of the tube at this point and its relation with the frame being shown by the smaller tube outline of Figure 5 Holding the closure member in this position with one hand, the operator then inflates the inflatable member with the other to sufficient pressure to cause the tube to expand to the larger tube outline of Figure 5 with its treaded surface 18 securely gripping the side wall 10 of the frame and the outer side wall 20 of the tube seating in and sealingly engaging the seat 9. Consequently, on inflation, the tube firmly grips the side wall of the frame and by expansion enables its outer side wall to conform in contour to the seat 9. The same expansion sealing the joint between the tube and the rim 14, the opening 6 there after is effectively sealed.

It has previously been mentioned that the peripheral surface 18 of the inflatable member is treaded. Since the outer side wall 20 of the member and not its peripheral surface seals the opening 6, the form of the tread is determined primarily by its ability to resist side slippage or displacement relative to the side wall 10 of the frame. However, the peripheral surface may act as a sealing agent, as well, by providing it with tread of suitable pattern such as the illustrated zig-zag, in which there are no passages from one side of the tread to the other.

beingadapted to-be rotated aboutthisaxis for tumbling its contents-by suitable drive" hasv an oval shaped or elongated an through which the drum is charged Thisopening; is bordered or defined-'by'an annular. frame or seat member 7 which may be formed From the above detailed description, it will be apparent that there has been provided an improved closure -for tanning drums, wherein an inflatable member carried by a closure member is employed both to lock the closure member in place and to seal the opening to which it is applied. It should be understood that the described and disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to be included which do not depart either from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

Having described my invention, I claim:

A closure for a tanning drum having an annular opening in a wall thereof comprising a side wall defining said opening and extending through said wall of said drum substantially normal thereto, an annular flange merging with said side wall adjacent an outer extremity ingly engaging said flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS I Date Number Name 1,474,463 Crooke Nov. 20, l9 23 2,201,322 Schwartz May 21, 1940 2,371,586 Schwartz Mar. 13, 1945 

